A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

Shiva Theater

October 28 - November 17

This fall, a classic New York City block party becomes the enchanted setting where fairies work their mischief in Shakespeare’s beloved play A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.

Acclaimed director Jenny Koons takes you to the royal wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta, where a celebratory play is being rehearsed. But the real drama is unfolding in the concrete jungle of fairy King Oberon. There, four young New Yorkers discover the course of true love runs anything but smooth, as supernatural sprites and the lovable Puck conspire to reveal what fools we mortals be, and draw us all into the collective dream of romance and merriment.

Mobile Unit is a reinvention of Joseph Papp’s Mobile Shakespeare program, beginning in 1957 with the simple idea that theater belongs to everyone, evolving into the New York Shakespeare Festival and ultimately becoming The Public Theater. Now in its eighth year, the Mobile Unit meets audiences where they are by presenting world-class Shakespeare and other works in recreation centers, prisons, senior centers, schools, and other community gathering places across the five boroughs. The Mobile Unit has already toured Henry V, The Winter’s Tale, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, The Comedy of Errors,Macbeth, Pericles, Measure for Measure, Richard III, and Much Ado About Nothing.

Mobile Unitis made possible with the support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, The Tow Foundation, The McLaughlin Children's Trust, and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Additional support provided by JetBlue Airways, Open Society Foundations, Susan & David Edelstein, The MAE Private Foundation, and The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Season support provided by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust provides leadership support for The Public Theater’s year-round activities.

The Mobile Unit

As The Public’s Mobile Unit brings touring productions to (among other locations) correctional facilities, we can’t help but also be thinking about the larger picture of correctional behavior in this country and what it means to incarcerate someone. This New York Times deep-dive has us all a little bit sick to our stomachs and ever-more-convinced that the way incarceration functions in this country must evolve.